Roxon letter spurs Assange flight to Ecuador embassy

By Philip Dorling

June 21, 2012 — 3.00am

JULIAN ASSANGE decided to seek political asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London because he felt abandoned by the Australian government, WikiLeaks insiders say.

Mr Assange's closest confidants say they were surprised by his move but have no doubt that it was triggered by a letter from the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, that Mr Assange's lawyers describe as an ''Australian declaration of abandonment''.

In the letter to one of Mr Assange's legal representatives, Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, Ms Roxon made it clear that Australia would not seek to involve itself in any international exchanges about his future.

Ms Roxon wrote: ''Australia would not expect to be a party to any extradition discussions that may take place between the United States and the United Kingdom or the United States and Sweden, as extradition is a matter of bilateral law enforcement co-operation.''

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Abandoned ... Assange is is seeking political asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy because he felt abandoned by the Australian Government.Credit:Getty Images

She also took the opportunity to advise Ms Robinson that ''should Mr Assange be convicted of any offence in the United States and a sentence of imprisonment imposed, he may apply for an international prisoner transfer to Australia''.

Mr Assange's lawyers characterised Ms Roxon's reply as a ''declaration of abandonment''. Some of his closest associates first learnt of his decision to seek political asylum when journalists rang them seeking comment overnight after the WikiLeaks publisher sought the protection of the Ecuadorean government.

''I didn't know about it, it came as a complete shock,'' one of Mr Assange's small WikiLeaks team told the Herald.

Earlier, Mr Assange said in a short statement: ''I can confirm that today I arrived at the Ecuadorean embassy and sought diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum. This application has been passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the capital Quito.''

The affair took another turn last night when the BBC reported Mr Assange faced arrest by Scotland Yard for breaching bail conditions. The conditions required Mr Assange to live at a friend's house in Norfolk, the BBC reported.

Mr Assange failed last week to persuade the British Supreme Court to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden to be questioned about sexual assault allegations.

Mr Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, has expressed grave fears extradition to Stockholm will facilitate his ultimate extradition to the US on espionage and conspiracy charges relating to the alleged leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents.

The Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry issued a statement that said Mr Assange's application for asylum referred to a ''regrettable factual statement of abandonment'' by the Australian government that made ''it impossible to return to my home country and put me in a state of helplessness to be requested for questioning by the Kingdom of Sweden … and investigation for political crimes in the United States of America, a country where the death penalty for such offences is still in force''.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, have repeated that the government ''has no evidence'' of any US intention to charge and extradite Mr Assange, though Ms Gillard added the qualifying words ''at this stage'' in answer to a parliamentary question from the Australian Greens deputy leader, Adam Bandt.

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The Australian embassy in Washington reported in December 2010 that WikiLeaks was the target of an ''unprecedented'' US criminal investigation ''into whether Julian Assange can be charged under US law, most likely the 1917 Espionage Act''.

Ecuador offered Mr Assange residency in late 2010 but rescinded the offer after controversy erupted and the US government reportedly made diplomatic representations against such action.